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Ralph Jennings

The Chinese mining firm that carried out the first Hong Kong-Kazakhstan dual stock exchange listing after a tough start in the industry could motivate many more initial public offerings (IPOs) by peers who are keen on the Central Asian country’s extensive mineral deposits, a financial official said on Monday.
The dual listing of Jiaxin International Resources Investment last year established a “proof of concept”, said Renat Bekturov, governor of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre, a regional financial hub and special economic zone.
To encourage more listings, Bekturov said at the SCMP China Conference Central Asia 2026, the financial centre was aligning its regulatory framework with international practices while increasing efficiency and transparency. He anticipated momentum within two years.
“The institutions are there,” he said. “The capital is there. Now the task is scale. Our job is to make the exceptional ordinary.”
Jiaxin became the world’s first company to make a dual primary listing in both Hong Kong and the lesser-known exchange in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.
The move raised more than US$150 million for Jiaxin, which is backed by state-owned Jiangxi Copper, and provided a blueprint for mineral companies in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, to reach capital from China and beyond in a single transaction.
The Kazakhstan operation, Jiaxin’s only asset, also ranked last year as the world’s largest open-pit mine for tungsten, a crucial raw material with industrial uses ranging from aerospace gear to common cutting tools. Commercial production began in 2025, and expansion is expected next year.
As testament to wider interest in mining in Kazakhstan, a record 96 cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding worth more than US$1.65 billion were reached during Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s visit to the country in June.
The work ahead was clear-cut, some in the mining business said on Monday.
Mining investors were demanding transparency on the details of newly discovered deposits and fairness in issuing licences for those sites, said Ruslan Baimishev, Kazakhstan Chamber of Mines president, during a separate conference panel. “Otherwise, investors will leave,” he said.

Around 4,000 licences had been issued in Kazakhstan to date, he said, and those operators should “report publicly”, avoiding any market speculation.
Kazakhstan’s investment environment also should ensure work for smaller local companies, regardless of how much capital poured in, Baimishev said.
“If [an] exploration is successful, then a larger, medium-sized investor comes in,” he said. “Those projects can then be consolidated by medium-sized players and eventually moved into production. After that, global companies with plants and processing capacity may acquire those projects.”
Increasingly on the radar of foreign mining investors, the country is the world’s largest uranium producer, the third biggest in titanium production, seventh in zinc, eighth in lead and 11th in gold, according to the US International Trade Administration.
Jiaxin’s board chairman and executive director Liu Liqiang advised his peers at the conference to stick through hard times, keep their word and follow international laws.
The operator got started in Kazakhstan more than a decade ago with an outlay of US$400 million but only sparse discoveries of its target mineral, tungsten.
Liu said the company explored extensively anyway.
“For me, the most important thing was to believe in ourselves,” he said during a fireside chat. “We saw huge potential.”
Miners entering a foreign market should “pay close attention to compliance” including syncing with international laws, Liu said, adding that “if you start by violating certain rules or laws, the cost of the project will increase”.
“You need to have a tangible plan, a clear route, and a road map for the further implementation of projects, especially when we are talking about projects that are important for the further development of the country,” he said.
When in Kazakhstan, he added, investors should keep their word.
“If you say something, you need to fulfil that obligation,” Liu said. “That is why, when you are in Kazakhstan, you need to be very precise about what you say.”


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Kazakhstan

Jiaxin’s Hong Kong-Kazakhstan listing paves way for mining peers, official says

A view of Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 29, 2026. Photo: Photothek via Getty Images

Officials of the Hong Kong stock exchange and Jiaxin International Resources Investment mark the company’s trading debut in Hong Kong on August 28, 2025. Photo: Handout

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Leung Chun-ying says Central Asia is a key region in the Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: SCMP

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SCMP publisher Tammy Tam (left) and Professor Waqar Ahmad hold the signed MOU in Astana. Photo: SCMP

SCMP publisher Tammy Tam and Professor Waqar Ahmad hold the signed MOU while posing for a group photo with  other executives in Astana. Photo: SCMP

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Economy

China Economy

Jiaxin’s ‘proof of concept’ should lead to more such listings, governor of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre says


Jiaxin’s ‘proof of concept’ should lead to more such listings, governor of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre says.


Jiaxin’s Hong Kong-Kazakhstan listing paves way for mining peers, official says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Jiaxin’s ‘proof of concept’ should lead to more such listings, governor of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre says

Jiaxin’s ‘proof of concept’ should lead to more such listings, governor of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre says